Cotton-cleaner.



J. C. GARNER.

COTTON CLEANER.

APPLICATION man MAY 11. 1909. RENEWED JULY 21,1913.

Patented Apr. 18, 1916.

a vwau lo Q dttoznugo 2 SHEETS-SHEET l- 2101 ha mom THE COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH C0,, WASHINGTON, D. c.

J. C. GARNER.

COTTON CLEANER.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 11. \909. RENEWED JULY 21.1913.

Patented Apr. 18, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

.l zq ll-u g-l IIIIIIII .III IIl THE COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH co., WASHINGTON, D. c.

TN ilt ld lllil.

JAMES C. GARNER, 0E DALLAS, TEXAS, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO

GARNER BEGIN MACHINERY COMPANY, OF HOUSTON, TEXAS, A CORPORA- 'IION OF TEXAS.

COTTON-CLEANER.

1,18tl,1l31.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that 1, JAMES C. GARNER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Dallas, in the county of Dallas and State of Texas, have invented a new and useful Cotton-Cleaner, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to cotton cleaning or re-ginning machines and its object is to provide a machine of this character which is of simple construction and which will operate to efliciently remove all dirt, trash and motes from the cotton fiber, this removal being effected pneumatically.

Another object is to provide improved means whereby the cotton to be cleaned may be fed to the gin saws in the form of a hat of ribbon and firmly held in position to be acted upon by the saws.

A further object is to provide in combination with the hat forming and delivering devices a saw cylinder so constructed and so mounted and controlled as to have its teeth intersect, at all points, a horizontal line extending through the bat and parallel to the axis of the cylinder.

With these and other objects in view the invention consists in certain novel details of construction and combination of parts here- .inafter more fully described and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, the preferred form of the invention has been shown.

In said drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of the complete machine, a portion thereof being broken away. Fig. 2 is a section on the line AB Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an elevation of the mechanism employed for transmitting motion from the saw shaft to the feed belts. Fig. 1 is a plan view of portions of some of the saws used in connection with the apparatus. Fig. is a fragmentary diagrammatic longitudinal vertical sectional view taken through the saws and the cotton grinding and feeding devices.

Referring to the figures by characters of reference, C designates the body of the gin, the same having a brush 1 arranged therein for removing cotton fiber from the teeth of the saws. These saws, indicated by 2, are peripherally toothed disks which are axially spaced along their axis, and each. as an en tirety, is radially disposed in relation to that axis. They are spaced apart by means of blocks or collars 4c, and are all keyed.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 18, 1916.

Renewed July 21, 1913. Serial No. 780,369.

clamped or otherwise secured to the shaft 3, and held rigidly together. The marginal portions of these disk saws are formed with crimps or corrugations alternately extending in opposite directions, axially, and having their length lines radial to the axis, as shown in Figs. 1 and 4. At the edge of each disk the depth of each crimp or corrugation, measured axially, is equal to one-half of the distance between those central planes of two adjacent disks which are transverse to the axis, and consequently, the teeth of these radially arranged disk saws in their revolutions intersect a horizontal line at all points to wit the horizontal line parallel to the axis which passes through the front edge of the ribbon or bat that is fed by the feeding devices. A hood 5 is arranged over the saws and located above this hood at opposite ends thereof are flues 6 and 7. The flue 7 constitutes means for conducting air under pressure from a suitable source to tubular arms 8 which project downwardly from the flue and into the hood, these arms being provided at the lower ends with nozzles 9 so positioned as to direct jets of air longitudinally within the hood 5 and across the ends of the uppermost teeth of the saws. The fine 6 is connected to the hood 5 by means of a connecting flue 10 and the trash, dirt and motes separated from the cotton fiber are designed to be blown from the hood 5 and through the branch flue 10 into the flue 6 by which they will be directed to a suitable point re moved from the apparatus.

The casing D ofthe feed apparatus is secured to one end portion of the gin casing C and is provided in one end with a transversely extending shaft 11 on which 18 arranged a roller 12. A bevel gear 13 is se-' cured to one end of the shaft 11 and arranged outside of the casing C, this gear meshing with a smaller gear 141 carried by the upper portion of an intermediate shaft 15. Said intermediate shaft is j ournaled at its upper end within an ear or journal. box 16 outstanding from the casing D while its lower end is journaled within another corresponding ear or journal box 16. A bevel gear 17 is feathered upon the shaft and meshes with a gear 18 carried by a shaft 19. This shaft is disposed below and parallel with the shaft 11 and is journaled within plates 20 slidably mounted between guides $21 outstanding from the casing D. Ears 22 stood that slots-36 and 37 are formed within of the machine.

. stood of course that all of the gearing shown in Fig. 1 is to be duplicated at the other side A spring 25 is arranged upon each shaft 15 and bears at its ends against washers 26 located on the ears 16 1 and upon the lower ends of the tubular bodies 24, these springs serving to hold the plates 20 and the parts mounted thereon normally pressed upwardly but capable of 'moving downward when more than a prer determined quantlty of cotton is fed between the roll carried by the shaft 11 and a corresponding roll' 27 which is secured to the shaft 19. A feed roll 28 is journaled within the end portion of the casing D close to the roll' 12, motion being transmitted to said feed roll through gears 29 and 30 from a gear 31 carried by the shaft 11. Another feed roll 32 is carried by the plates 20 and motion is transmitted thereto through gears 33' and 34 from a gear 35 carried by the lower-shaft 19. It is of courseto be underthe Walls of the casing D in order to permit the necessarv movement of the shaft 19 and feed roller 32 duringthe movement of the plates 20. Arranged upon the lower roll 27 is an endless belt 38 which is mounted on a roller 39 the trunnions of whichare journaled within boxes 40. These boxes are slidably mounted within guide slots 41 formed within the casing and can be shifted by means of adjusting screws 42. The upper and lower plies ofthe belt 38 are preferably substantially horizontal and overhangingthis belt 38 is an inclined endless belt 43 which extendsover the roll 12 and over another roller-44 the trunnions of which are journaled within boxes 45 slidably mounted within slots 46 formed in the upper portions of the walls of the casing D. These boxes 45 can be shifted by means of adjusting screws 47. A guide board 48 is disposed between the walls of the casing D and above the roller 39, said board being slightly inclined and constituting means for directing cotton onto the belt 38.

The shaft 11 is preferably driven from the shaft 3 of the saws by means of mechanism'such as illustrated in Fig. 3. The saw shaft has a pulley 49 secured thereto and designed to drivea belt 50 which extends over a large pulley 51. A small gear 52 is secured to the shaft of this pulley 51 and meshes with a large gear 53 constituting one of a train of gears so proportioned as to V greatly reduce the speed, the last one of the gears of the train being in mesh with 54 secured to the shaft 11.

In using the machine herein described the shaft 3 is set in motion in the usual: or any a gear preferred manner and motion will therefore be transmitted therefrom through the gearing shown in Fig. 3 to the shaft 11 and this shaft will in turn transmit motion to the shaft 19 through gears 13 and 14, shaft 15 and gears 17 and 18. Motion will also be transmitted through the gears 29 and 30 and 33 and 34 to the two feed rollers 28 and 32. These feed rollers will rotate in the same direction as the rolls to which they are operatively connected and it will be apparent of course that the upper and lower rolls 12 and 27 will operate in opposite directions as indicated by the arrows in Fig. 1. The two belts 38 and 43 will thus be moved in the direction indicated by the arrows and obviously, any cotton placed in the casing C and upon the upper ply of belt 38 will be carried forward and gradually packed between the two belts and the rollers 12 and 27 after which it will be supplied in the form of a ribbon to the feed rollers 28 and 32.- These rollers will direct the ribbon of packed cotton against the gang of saws 2 and as the marginal portions of these saws are crimped it will be seen that the teeth will tear off the end of the ribbon evenly and convey the fibers into the hood and at the same time loo-sen the motes, dirt and trash therefrom. As the fibers, etc., pass through the hood they will be met by the jets of air leaving the nozzles 9. These jets will blow the undesirable material from the hood and into the connecting flue 10 from which it will pass to the discharge flue 6. As the fibers leave the hood 5 they will be removed from the saw teeth by the rotating brush 1 which is arranged to rotate in the usual manner.

It will be noticed, especially when the diagrammatic Fig. 5 is observed, that the bolts 38 and 42 and the rollers 28 and 32 constitute guiding and feeding devices for the cotton, these guiding and feeding devices being adapted at their receiving end to engage large thick masses of cotton and to gradually advance and compress these masses into a thin bat which is ultimately delivered between the two feed rolls. The two feed rolls in which the guiding and feeding devices terminate are so mounted that one of them is axially fixed in position and that the other is yieldable away from the first. This yieldable mounting of one of the rolls permits minor variations in the thickness of the bat and also makes possible the passage of foreign bodies which may be entangled in the cotton. The ginning saws, however, are arranged to rotate with the fixed roll serving as an abutment for the hat. The entire pressure of the ginning action is transmitted directly to the fixed roll and away from th yieldable roll. In this way it is possible for the rolls to accommodate themselves to hats off different thicknesses and to'foreign bodies, and at the same time provide a fixed abutment against which the saws can act.

While the parts at the delivery end of the guiding and feeding devices can be varied considerably in detail I prefer to construct them substantially as shown. Relatively large rollers must be provided for guiding the belts as it is not desirable to cause the belts to be bent too sharply. By using large rollers the belts are relieved from excessive wear and a large friction surface is provided for driving them. But the large rollers make it impossible for the saws to be placed close to the plane of contact between the belts and the bat. As be fore stated the saws must have a relatively fixed abutment against which to act and this abutment must be close to them so as to firmly hold the bat. In order to make possible the use of the large belt rollers and at the same time to provide a satisfactory means for holding the bat at lines close to the saws I provide the supplemental feed rollers 28 and 32 which have been before described. These are very much smaller than. the belt rollers and because of this their lines of contact with the bat can be much closer to the saws than would be possible with the larger belt rollers.

It is a well known fact that air has been used before in various ways for moting but in every instance the jets of air have been .directed either by blowers or by suction fans, in the same direction in which the saws move. It has therefore been impossible to employ more than a predetermined quantity of air or to utilize air currents having more than a predetermined velocity because otherwise the air operates to strip the cotton from the saws along with the dirt, trash, etc. It will be noted in the present case however that the air jets move in a direction opposite to that in which the saw teeth are traveling and therefore jets of any desired velocities and volumes can be directed against the teeth of the saw and thus remove all undesirable material. without however separating the fibers from the teeth.

It is to be understood that the cleaning mechanism herein described can be used in connection with various forms of gins and that various changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of the parts without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

I do not herein claim the specific form of saw disks which I have shown, or the specific saw cylinder produced by combining a set of such disks which I have here selected to illustrate the general combination, as I have elected to present claim for those 5 specific devices in another appli ation for patent. But as concerns the cooperative relation of the feeding hopper having sides formed of converging, traveling apron members, together with a pair of feeding rolls or cylinders, on the one hand, and a single rotary toothed cylinder, on the other hand, I wish it to be understood that I regard my self as the first to have so constructed and arranged the several cooperating parts referred to that the ribbon or bat of cotton delivered by the feeding cylinders will be in tersected at all points of the advancing edge by the peripheral teeth of radially mounted disk saws. Regarding a horizontal line, parallel to the axis passing through the end of the cotton ribbon, it will be seen that every point in this line lies in the path of rotation of numerous teeth of the radially mounted disk. Therefore at this line, every particle of fiber and every particle of foreign material is impinged upon by one or more teeth. Prior to my combining with the con verging apron feeder and the feeding cylinders, a toothed cylinder formed of a series of radially arranged disks adapted to have the teeth cover or include every point, horizontally, along the front edge of the ribbon or bat, designs of two sorts had been proposed. In one case it was proposed to form the teeth on a long dove-tail strip, then insert this strip into a dove-tail groove extending several times around the drum. In the other case a series of disks was placed along a shaft in planes, not radial to the axis. but strongly inclined thereto. incident to both of these are well known; and neither can be used as advantageously as can one having the radially arranged disks of the present construction. In my case the disks on the central transverse radial. plane travel absolutely in radial circles and the teeth that are slightly oflset at the crimps or corrugations (for one-eighth of an inch, or thereabouts) still have their points in paths of rotation which pass substantially through a horizontal line at the working point which is common to all of the teeth. Therefore, as above noted, all of the particles constituting the compressed ribbon The difficulties i or bat formed by the converging belts and '4 the feeding rollers are struck by the teeth and separated from the mass.

It is well known that one of the serious difliculties met with in the use of cotton cleaning or reginning machines of this general class is the accumulation of small pieces of lint, as well as particles of foreign material, in the spaces between the disks. These gradually but rapidly catch and accumulate, and interfere with the operation of ing one feed roll and one belt roller to tion makes the cylinder self-cleaning. Not only can the small pieces of lint and the small particles of foreign material be Whirled out under this centrifugal action, but the air spaces between the disks being unobstructed, radially, the air is forced out- Ward carrying with it the materials that tend to accumulate. The hat or ribbon from the apron or feeding rollers is uniformly acted on at all instants and its delivery from the cylinder is correspondingly uniform.

What is claimed is 1. The combination of a pair of traveling endless belts having converging stretches adapted to receive between them a thick mass of cotton and to simultaneously advance and gradually compress it into a thin flat bat, relatively large rollers around which the belts pass, a pair of relatively small feed rolls closely adjacent the delivery ends of the said converging belt stretches and adapt ed to receive the bat between them and maintain the compression thereof and forcibly feed it forward, and a gang of rotating toothed saws closely adjacent the said feed rolls'for engaging the bat delivered thereby.

2. The combination of a pair of traveling endless belts having converging stretches adapted to receive between them a thick mass of cotton and to simultaneously advance and gradually compress it into a thin fiat bat, relatively large rollers around which the belts pass, a pair of relatively small feed rolls closely adjacent the delivery ends of the said belt stretches and adapted to receive the bat between them and maintain the compression, thereof and forcibly feed it forward, a yieldable mounting for one feed roll permitting it to move away from the other, and a gang of rotating toothed saws closely adjacent the said feed rolls for engaging the bat delivered thereby.

3. The combination of a pair of traveling endless belts having converging stretches adapted to receive between them a thick massof cotton and to simultaneously ad vance and gradually compress it into a thin fiat bat, relatively large rollers around which the belts pass, a pair of relatively small feed rolls closely adjacent the delivery ends of the said belt stretches and adapted to receive the bat between them and maintain the compression thereof and forcibly feed it forward, means for yieldably mountpermit them to move away "from the other feed roll and belt roller respectively, and a gang of rotating toothed saws closely adjacent the said feed rolls for engaging the bat delivered thereby.

Jr. The combination of a pair of traveling endless belts having converging stretches adapted to receive. between them a thick mass of cotton and to simultaneously advan e an g ad a ly p e it int a thin.

fiat bat, relatively large rollers around which the belts pass, a pair of relatively small feed rolls closely adjacent the delivery ends of the said belt stretches and adapted to receive the bat between them and maintain the compression thereof and forcibly feed it forward, a single resilient mounting for one feed roll and one belt roller permitting them to move simultaneously away from or toward the other feed roll and belt roller respectively, and a gang of rotating toothed saws closely adjacent the said feed rolls for engaging the bat delivered thereby.

5. The combination of guiding and feeding devices comprising a pair of traveling converging guides having at their delivery ends a bodily fixed abutment and a relatively yieldable element opposite thereto, the said guides being adapted to receive between them a thick mass of cotton and to simultaneously advance and gradually compress it into a thin fiat bat which is delivered between the said fixed abutment and the said relatively yieldable element, and a gang of toothed saws closely adjacent the said abutment and yieldable element and normally rotating in the direction to force the bat against the bodily fixed abutment.

6. The combination of a pair of traveling endless belts having converging stretches adapted to receive between them a thick mass of cotton and to simultaneously advance and gradually compress it into a thin fiat bat, relatively large guide rollers around which the belts pass, a pair of relatively small feed rolls closely adjacent the delivery ends of the said belt stretches and adapted to receive the bat between them and maintain the compression thereof and forcibly feed it forward, a roll supporting means rigidly holding one feed roll against bodily movement toward or from the other and permitting bodily yielding of the other roll away from the first, and a gang of toothed saws closely adjacent the said feed rolls and i normally rotating in the direction to force the bat against the rigidly mounted roll.

7. The combination of a pair of traveling endless belts having converging stretches adapted to receive between them a thick mass of cotton and to simultaneously advance and gradually compress it into a thin flat bat, relatively large guide rollers around which the belts pass, a pair of relatively small feed rolls closely adjacent the delivery ends of the said belt stretches and adapted to receive the bat between them and maintain the compression thereof and forcibly feed it forward, one feed roll and the adja cent belt supporting roller being rigidly held against bodily movement and the other feed roll and belt supporting roller being yieldablymounted to permit bodily movement, and a gang of toothed saws closely adjacent the said feed rolls and normally rotating in the direction to force the bat against the rigidly mounted roll.

8. lhe combination of a pair of traveling endless belts having converging stretches adapted to receive between them a thick mass of cotton and to simultaneously advance and gradually compress it into a thin flat bat, relatively large guide rollers around which the belts pass, a pair of relatively small feed rolls closely adjacentthe delivery ends of the said belt stretches and adapted to receive the bat between them and maintain the compression thereof and forcibly feed it forward, and a single rotary toothed cylinder to which the pair of feed rolls is adapted to feed cotton radially, the said cylinder having separable peripherally toothed, axially spaced, disk saws clamped together, each disk as an entirety being radilly disposed and the points of the teeth being adapted to intersect all of the points along the line parallel to the axis and passing through the bat delivered bv the feed rolls.

9. The combination of a pair of traveling endless belts having converging stretches adapted to receive between them a thick mass of cotton and to simultaneously advance and gradually compress it into a thin flat bat, relatively large guide rollers around which the belts pass, a pair of relatively small feed rolls closely adjacent the delivery ends of the said belt stretches and adapted to receive the bat between them and maintain the compression thereof and forcibly feed it forward, a toothed cylinder formed of a shaft and a series of spaced saw disks radially arranged on said shaft and rigid therewith, said feed rolls being mounted to feed the cotton radially to said toothed cylinder, and means for moving the teeth of said cylinder to cause them to intersect, at all points, a horizontal line extending through the cotton bat and parallel to the axis.

10. In a fiber cleaning machine, the combination of a rotary toothed cylinder, feed rollers adjacent one side of said cylinder, bat forming devices in front of the feed rollers comprising a pair of endless belts having their adjacent runs converging in the direction of their travel, rollers upon which said belts are supported, the belt supporting rollers at the discharge ends of the belts being adjacent the said feed rollers, and yieldmgly mounted bearing plates in which one of the feed rollers and one of the belt supporting rollers are mounted.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto afixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

JAMES C. GARNER. Witnesses:

K. E. WILSON, B. H. GRAHAM.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Gommissioner 0t JPatenta. Washington, D. C.

It is hereby certified that in,.Letters Patent No. 1,180,131, granted April 18,

1916, upon the application of James C. Garner, of Dallas, Texas, for an improvement in Cotton-Cleaners, errors appear in the printed specification requiring correction as follows: Page 1, line 45, for the Word grinding read guiding; page 5, line 19, claim 8, for the Word radilly read radially; and that the said Letters Patent should be read with these corrections therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 25th day of July, A. D., 1916.

[SEAL] I I F. W. H. CLAY,

Acting Commissioner of Patents. 

